Sandwich expects to receive settlement funds from Textron

The town of Sandwich expects to receive $400,000 in Textron settlement funds to put toward a comprehensive wastewater management plan.

Paul Babin

The town of Sandwich expects to receive $400,000 in Textron settlement funds to put toward a comprehensive wastewater management plan.

The plan would outline how the town would mitigate its wastewater to reduce nutrient loading in Sandwich estuaries.

Some of the funding will be used for a plan to reduce the amount of nitrogen the town contributes to Popponesset Bay.

“We will be looking at [Popponesset Bay] and [the money] will be utilized in part to determine how to approach our nitrogen contribution,” said Sandwich Health Agent Dave Mason.

State and federal trustees agreed to a $1.3 million settlement with Textron Systems Corporation in March for contaminating the Massachusetts Military Reservation. Specifically at issue was TSC’s development and explosive testing of tactical weapons systems for the US Army was hazardous to groundwater.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is dividing the money between Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich.

Mashpee, Barnstable, and Sandwich all partly contribute to the nitrogen loading in the bay.

Mashpee commissioned a study that determined Sandwich is responsible for approximately 9 percent of the excess nitrogen.

Nitrogen acts as a fertilizer to weeds and algae in an embayment and can destroy surrounding animal life, such as mollusks and shellfish, as it grows. Once the amount of nitrogen passes a certain threshold known as the total maximum daily load (TMDL), the water body is in danger of becoming stagnant.

The town submitted a grant application in March requesting $650,000 of the settlement funds.

Mason said he was pleased to receive the $400,000 in settlement funds. He said the state did not explain why the town didn’t receive the $650,000 it requested.

“I’m of the opinion that beggars can’t be choosers. I’ll take what we can get.”

The comprehensive wastewater management plant is an extension of the Massachusetts Estuaries Program, which provides water quality, nutrient loading, and hydrodynamic testing for 89 estuaries in Southeastern Massachusetts.

Mason pointed out that the town still has to go through a public hearing process before it receives the $400,000.

“Are we confident that we’ll receive all of [the money] after the public hearing process? I can’t answer that because a process such as this has never been done before by the state.”

The wastewater management plan would be completed in four phases, only two of which would be funded by the settlement funds.

Phase 1 would provide a needs assessment of the town’s wastewater issues.

The second phase would identify the tools already available in town to address them.

“The benefit of doing the comprehensive wastewater management plan is that it provides a way to address how to proceed with future development and redevelopment, which is a concern in town relative to the tax base. It’s important for us to go forward on this,” Mason said.